Alvar

Alvar, also spelled Azhvar, any of a group of South Indian mystics who from the 7th to the 10th century wandered from temple to temple singing ecstatic hymns in adoration of the god Vishnu. Their counterpart among the followers of the god Shiva were the Nayanars.

The name Alvar means, in the Tamil language in which they sang, “one who is immersed [in meditation].” Their bhakti (religious devotion) was of an intensely passionate kind; they compared the soul to a woman who yearns for her lord’s love. The Alvars are described as falling unconscious in rapture before the image of their lord, and the saint Nammalvar, in speaking of the “madness” of religious exaltation, exhorted his fellow mystics to “run, jump, cry, laugh, and sing, and let everyone witness it.” They held that Vishnu or one of his avatars (incarnations) confers upon devotees the grace that is necessary for total surrender (prapatti) to him.

The hymns of the Alvars were gathered in the 10th century by Nathamuni, a leader of the Shrivaishnava sect, who introduced the regular singing of the hymns in Vaishnava temples of South India. The collection is called Nalayira Prabandham (“Collection of 4,000 Songs”).

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